09/09/2026
GATEKEEPING
Sometimes the gate keeper is there not to hinder your progress, but to contest if you are "ready".
When we see people online speaking about entitlement due to blood, status, race, it can make us question alot of things including our permittance within a magical system. Though, I speak less of this and more to the "guardians of the abyss", forces that serve as essentially gatekeepers, whether it be the underworld, the Otherworld, purgatory, or other realms entirely, there are very real gatekeepers, humans, who would see the ways of their ancestors die out before seeing it in the hands of someone who is different. Even in these situations, they aren't keeping you out as much as they are challenging your right to the path you wish to walk, much like trickster who taunts and berates only to be the very person to open the door.
Even in ancient egyptian cosmology, when someone dies, they must approach seven gates and seven guardians. If in life, they memorized certain phrases or rituals, they could pass on into the next gate and eventually have their heart weighed against a feather which in turn dictated their afterlife. There are also ceremonial magic rites, such as those found in Thelema, that deal with "cross the abyss", whether one relates it to a death of the ego or a spiritual experience of travelling in spirit into such a realm, nonetheless one's own gatekeepers (or demons) must also be befriended or destroyed.
Though, there are humans that choose to be gatekeepers for the right reasons, including protecting their ancestral and spiritual practices, often those claiming to be protecting such paths are those who are quickest to sell it out or who are using the guise of good samaritan as a ploy to hide their actual intent. If you are anywhere online, no doubt you have come across people like this, and "troll" is a perfect name for them, as often they too appear as advertised.
Dare to cross the Abyss, within and without.
Face the guardians and what demons may appear.
Claim your the treasure that awaits.
Risk it all for the ectasy that is life and love.
